Getaways

GETAWAYS Saddling up for a high desert adventure at Southern Colorado’s Zapata Ranch

BY RACHEL WALKER

The Washington Post

It’s a stunning autumn day at some 9,000 feet above sea level in Southern Colorado. An expansive sky stretches from the sandy dunes over which I’m riding on horseback with my 12-yearold son, Henry, and our guide, Amelia, a wrangler at the nearby Medano-Zapata Ranch, where we are staying for a three-day fall harvest festival. In the distance, the yellowing leaves of aspen trees illuminate mountain ridges. The sure-footed horses navigate the dunes with ease. It rained last night, and the dense sand is springy underfoot. But Pickles, Henry’s horse, would prefer to dawdle. Amelia offers clear instruction — “shorten your reins, look where you want to go, give her a kick, let her know you mean it” — and Henry talks to his horse in a gentle voice as he tries to propel her forward.

I’m tempted to weigh in. After all, I am his mother and a former equestrian, and I know a thing or two about trail riding. But what 12-year-old wants his mom bossing him around on a long weekend vacation where we are supposed to be bonding? Besides, Amelia is the perfect combination of instruction and confidence-boosting, and before I know it, Henry and Pickles overtake my horse and me. We crest the dune, admire the view and descend to the valley floor. When Amelia asks if we want to canter, Henry enthusiastically answers in the affirmative. Soon we’re racing across this iconic western landscape, and my heart soars with exhilaration and gratitude.

It wasn’t hard to convince Henry to skip a day of school for a long weekend road trip with me to the San Luis Valley, 260 miles south of our home in Boulder. With the promise of delicious chef-cooked meals, horseback riding, a ranch stay and one night of glamping, he eagerly packed his bag and helped navigate our long drive south over mountain passes and into the stark high desert, a landscape of hardy, prickly vegetation, vast plains, massive dunes created by the combination of wind, water, sand and a mountainous barrier.

A word about navigating the San Luis Valley: It’s big. Having your own car is essential, as nothing is close to anything else. Fortunately, once we got to Zapata Ranch, we were able to park the car and forget about it.

In fact, from the moment we stepped onto Zapata’s grounds, we more or less forgot about anything that did not revolve around ranch life, riding, or eating five-course dinners prepared with locally sourced ingredients, including beef and bison raised on the ranch.

Like the other guests who filled the 17-room lodge, we felt as if we had discovered a magical world. I was fascinated with the ranch’s history and mission. The Nature Conservancy bought the 103,000-acre Zapata Ranch in 1999 from a private owner who had embarked on a bison restoration program with the goal of creating a genetically pure herd without any beef DNA. In 2004, the nonprofit organization partnered with Ranchlands, a private ranch management company, to manage the Nature Conservancy’s 2,000-animal bison herd and to restore the property to native vegetation through a concentrated effort that used cattle grazing, pasture rotation and more.

In 2009, Ranchlands began hosting guests at the lodge and in the auxiliary Stewart House, where Henry and I stayed. I appreciated that the house was a short walk from the lodge, offering an evening digestif stroll, and he loved that it had a pool table. With a guest season that runs from March through October, Zapata has workshops, series and seminars that last anywhere from two days to a week. Guests are immersed in whatever specialty event they’ve registered for and also learn about the ranch operations through hands-on experience that includes horseback riding, touring the bison operation and interacting with the ranch staff, including Kate Matheson, the busy ranch manager, who patiently answers questions about cattle, bison, the ecosystem and more.

Our weekend’s focus was on local food and farm-to-table meals, while events through the rest of the 2022 season include a writing workshop with author Pam Houston and birding with “Birding Magazine” editor Ted Floyd. Next season’s programs haven’t yet been announced but will likely include classics like botanical foraging and wildlife photography, and more specialized workshops.

Henry was the only kid at the ranch, but the other guests were friendly, and with his easygoing attitude, he fit right in. He also helped me see things through fresh eyes.

On a clear, dark night, he paused and pointed overhead to the brilliant Milky Way and the star-spangled sky. He put a finger to his lips. In the distance, a pack of coyotes yipped and howled. Henry’s eyes widened in enchantment, and he looped his arm through mine. Mother-and-son bonding at its finest.

Photo for The Washington Post by Rachel Walker Henry Walker, the author’s son, gets riding tips from Amelia, a wrangler at Zapata Ranch.

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